Netanyahu announces aid $13m to Uganda, neighbours

The Israeli Development Agency is to invest $13m (£10m) in aid to Uganda and other East African countries according to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while speaking on his trip to Uganda.

He said his swing through Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia is intended to mark Israel’s “return to Africa”; a region that is figuring more and more prominently on the international stage.

Israel’s ties with Uganda were strong during the early 1960s but withered under pressure from the oil power of the Arab states in the 1970s when Field Marshal Idi Amin was at the helm.

Israel’s security links with apartheid South Africa who Presidents Obote and Museveni fought also didn’t help. But now there are mutual benefits for both sides with Uganda and other East African nations eager to develop economic and security ties and Israel eager to make new friends and develop ties in a region where Islamist extremism is also on the march.